


Shining Armor

by seasonschange



Category: Captain America (Movies), Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Amputee Bucky Barnes, Artist Steve Rogers, Awkwardness, Body Dysphoria, Bottom Steve, Crossover, Dragon Age Lore, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gamer Bucky, Hurt/Comfort, I MEAN IF YOU MARRY ONLINE IT'S FAKE RIGHT, M/M, Metal Arm Kink, Misunderstandings, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Scars, Social Anxiety, Switching, gamer steve, nerds fighting over lore, preserumsoldier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 21:26:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5885773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasonschange/pseuds/seasonschange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Steve is Bucky's knight in shining armor, and shenanigans ensue. In which they both hide secrets behind a flawless exterior, and Bucky plays video games to escape his shitty reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shining Armor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hailshellhead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailshellhead/gifts).



> Inspired by the absolutely life-changingly-fabulous FenHawke fic [Wicked Grace](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1934703). I just REALLY wanted to write a Stucky/DA Crossover, and that fic finally gave me the push I needed :) I know close to nothing about MMORPGs, but wanted a sorta-game where you can romance other gamers so I basically did a mix of DA, Guild Wars aND CLUB PENGUIN I GUESS?? *facepalm*
> 
> 112% written for my real life best friend and soulmate, Ree~✿

* * *

Bucky's dying.

Slowly but surely, he's getting thoroughly splattered in his own blood and gore from leather boots to helmet as the masked assassins surrounding him strike from every direction, their motions so quick they're nothing but blurs.

"Oh, for fuck's- _fuck!_ _"_

He's punching the keys hard as he can to get his character to move - but every time he takes one step forward, one of the assassins lands a sudden, powerful blow and Bucky' sent staggering two steps backwards instead. It's so frustrating that he eventually pushes the abused keyboard aside with a frustrated groan and decides he'd feel a lot better watching that stupid elf get once again turned into chopped meat.

"Serves you right," he mumbles darkly as his characters's health bar keeps dwindling in front of his eyes.

Captivated by the morbid scenery playing out on his computer screen, he doesn't pay as much attention as he normally does when he makes a grab for the bottle of Gatorade left open at the edge of his desk.

And of course, it's the day the prosthetic chooses to be a bitch and instead of grabbing the bottle, the synthetic fingers simply squeeze around it before letting it slip out of Bucky's grasp. The bottle falls from the table and red liquid splashes the side of Bucky's desk and his left pant leg.

"Uhhh, stupid shit!"

With another long suffering groan, Bucky rolls his chair back and leaves the room to find something to mop the mess with. He shakes the prosthetic a couple of times for good measure and as if mocking him, the damn thing is now working without a hitch, obeying every command seamlessly as he flexes his... _the_  fingers.

The technology of the arm is very new and Bucky's only gotten the opportunity to have the mechanical device implanted in exchange of making weekly trips to Stark Industry to get a full battery of tests and check ups, and an agreement to send daily reports to the company about the everyday use he makes of the arm, and the results. Bucky's basically a guinea pig but it's for science and the future of humanity so he considers it a noble cause. The fact that Stark Industries  _paid_ him to sign the contract hadn't hurt, either.

But prototype tech means there's bound to be complications and failures. It's only been six months but the arm's been failing him more than not lately, and Bucky's reports have gone from optimistic and somewhat polite to short and moody. He could only hope the eight other participants were having more luck.

In any case, Bucky's stuck with the arm embedded into his skeleton and linked to his nervous system, now - and there's no going back.

Not that he wants to. Not that he  _cares enough_ to want to.

Inside his kitchen, tearing mechanically one paper towel after another from the large roll, Bucky replays his day in his head wondering where he went wrong because today's been nothing but a long string of disasters. First he'd burned his tongue on his morning coffee. Then he'd slipped in the shower and banged his head pretty hard on the rim of the bathtub. And after that, he'd sat down, tongue still throbbing and an ice pack for his bump with the firm intention of getting some writing done - but to no avail, writer's block still very present and  _very blocking_.

And like usual when he couldn't do anything but stare forlornly at the last sentence he'd written  _ages_ ago, he'd gone to the room he liked to call his 'office' - although he never got any work done in there - and turned Dragon Age on in the hopes that killing darkspawn and slaying Qunari would... somehow... inspire him again?

Relax him?

Help him get his frustrations out on something else than himself?

 _Not that_ any _of those are actually working..._

At least one reason he doesn't play that game for is to be social. It might be a multiplayer game but if there'd been a single player version, Bucky would have picked it instead and never looked back.

Ever since the accident, Bucky's been keeping his distances with the outside world, quite happy to become a hermit and online people are just as unwelcome as flesh and bone ones.

His only friend in the MMORPG is Natasha and they only became so close because Natasha wouldn't stop stalking him until he gave in and added her to his one-man party. But since she'd landed a new job she's almost never online, so it's not a problem anymore. Bucky, on the other hand... has just spent four hours doing the same quest over and over in the hopes of finding a way past the increasingly annoying band of Crows waiting for him outside the gates of Denerim.

He's basically spent his day dying on repeat and not achieving _any_ progress.

"God _damned_ assassins."

Realizing suddenly that he's now got way too much paper towels clutched in his hands, Bucky uses half of it to rub all that he can from his pant leg. Then he retreats quickly to his office, going down on his knees on the scratchy carpet and moping the cold, sweet-smelling Gatorade.

When he's done he looks up, face level with the top of his desk, and does a double take when the screen isn't exactly showing him what he was expecting.

Bucky's expecting to see his elf lying in the pool of his own blood where he'd abandoned him to his cruel fate, and the heart-warming _"Your journey ends"_ message written in bloody letters across his screen.

What he sees instead is his character standing in front of a _huge_   _pile_ of corpses, some already sparkling with loot ( _more garbage to hoard, yay!_ ). And yes, his elf's health is still very low but he's not dead, the game isn't over and he's actually managed to _finally_ progress in his quest.

_But I didn't do... anything?_

"Whaaaaat the hell."

Bucky slowly stands back up on his feet, hindered as per usual by the prosthetic but mostly because he can't touch anything with his handfuls of soggy towels, and goes to discard the disgusting things into the bathroom. There he washes both hands - the flesh one and the waterproof one - in no time, almost frantically, still puzzled by what just happened with his game.

Once he's back behind his desk, Bucky proceeds to make his character drink a healing potion and meanwhile checks that there aren't any apparent glitches in the game. It could be that it crashed, and left him stuck in place with no way to fast travel (that's a known issue in this game and it's absolutely the worst).

But... no.

Everything's working fine. After bringing pointy-eared Bucky back from the brink of death, he sends him running around in the open field and the golden-skinned elf complies happily, long black hair flying in the wind behind him. He's not stuck.

"Alright, then."

It's not a technical error. It's not a bug. He actually killed all the assassins by himself.

Or maybe... although the game is very story-oriented and allows only a narrow and predetermined window for interactions between players, there  _is_ this functionality that lets players come to each other's rescue if they're in the proximity. And of course, if they're willing to risk their own lives (and progress) to save someone else's hide.

Dragon Age's started loosing a fuck ton of players for the last couple of years, ever since Bucky's joined anyway, so he only occasionally meets other players in Thedas (which, by the way, is  _vast_ ); and when he does he rarely cares enough to stop and see what they're doing, let alone rescue them. He'd always thought people only helped players they knew; people who were online friends like him and Natasha. 

But Natasha is offline right now, as his 'party status' clearly states on the left side of his screen.

So who...?

Elf Bucky is still running and hopping around aimlessly while Bucky ponders over that mystery.

* * *

The next time it happens, Bucky's actively fighting for his life.

It's only been two days and once again he's being swarmed by enemies. Namely, Qunari.

_God, I hate the Qunari._

There are actually very few things Bucky doesn't hate right now when elf Bucky polishes his last health potion but is still nowhere near done with the group of angry horned men still coming at him.

_Or maybe they're women._

In Bucky's defense, it's really hard to tell with the Qunari. He's not even sure they believe in traditional genders.

 _"Kill the elf!"_ One of them bellows.

"Don't kill the elf!" Bucky shouts back, outraged.

And right when elf Bucky falls on his knees, seconds away from being dealt the killing blow - that's when _he_ appears as if by magic (although _he_ is obviously not a mage).

In fact,  _he_ is a tall blond warrior who charges right into the melee with a powerful war cry, forcing the passage with his large shield.

He's wearing the Grey Wardens' heraldry and an armor that looks a lot cooler than the crappy set Bucky found on some random dead corpse he didn't even kill himself. And while the Qunari all stumble back as one and take a moment to recover, Bucky stares wide-eyed as the warrior crouches next to his character and grabs the elf by his forearm, hauling him up on his feet.

Then he turns around and positions himself with his back to Bucky's character, and waits there for the next wave to come, shield raised to his face.

The name 'Steve' is shining above the warrior's head in silver characters, unlike Bucky's own yellowish color which means he must be on a level way,  _way_ above Bucky's. And underneath the name, there's a smaller line that reads 'Commander of the Grey'.

"...Wow."

For that player to possess a rank he must have been around for a long time. And completed one hell of a quest.

A chat window suddenly pops up at the bottom right of Bucky's screen, and the notification sound startles him so badly he almost knocks off one of his loudspeakers with the prosthetic. He's only ever used that functionality with Natasha, and it's been so long that he's forgotten it even exists.

Feeling weirdly febrile, heart beating way too fast, Bucky pushes a wild strand of dark hair out of his face before opening up the chat window. At the same moment the Qunari start attacking again, so while he keeps one eye on the battle, with the other he scans the message he's just received from his unexpected savior.

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: need some help? :)**

After confirming that the Grey Warden can pretty much take care of the whole horde of Qunari without Bucky's help, he decides to leave the outcome of the battle to him and focuses on the reply.

_But should I reply?_

Bucky would never have started the conversation first, but giving the other player an answer seems like the polite thing to do after being rescued from a horde of enraged Qunari. 

With the prosthetic, punching the same key all the time is easier than trying to make the synthetic fingers fly over the whole keyboard as fast and lightly as real ones would. So it takes some time for Bucky to write his answer.

**[Bucky]: I totally had them on the ropes, but thanks!**

The moment he sends it, the Warden is inflicting one last blow and that's the last of the enemies. They both earn XP points and Steve's rewarded with a hell of a lot more than elf Bucky. Which is probably only fair, since he did all the heavy lifting.

Steve takes a while to reply.

His _(her?)_ character's still standing next to Bucky's, and Bucky can only guess that the player's either not noticed his answer or that he's somehow found the only other person in the world as slow as him on a keyboard.

Eventually, his computers emits the quiet _ping!_ signaling a new message.

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: riiiiiiiiiiiight**

Bucky snorts.

**[Bucky]: Just a minute more and I was kicking everyone's ass.**

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: oh, u mean like last time?**

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: :)**

Bucky's already guessed that it was the Grey Warden, but he doesn't know what else to say but:

**[Bucky]: It was you?**

He feels awkward after overthinking each and every one of his replies, and ponders if he should also maybe add an emoticon or two... but then experiences a mild heart attack picturing himself picking the wrong one and looking like a complete moron.

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: yup**

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: hey listen i gtg**

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: but it was nice finally getting to talk to u this time around :)**

Bucky's eyebrows draw closer above his nose in confusion. The other player had wanted to talk to him?

It makes answering even more stressful than it already was. He still does his best to write fast as he can before Steve's gone.

**[Bucky]: Right, bye!**

"Ugh."

Steve walks up to elf Bucky and activates the little animation for shaking hands. Bucky leans over and watches with open interest. He scarcely interacts with others so he's not exactly used to watching his character be this friendly. But it's fun to see those animations play out. Especially since they both seem to have a knack for creating attractive OCs.

Elf Bucky's got most of Bucky's own features _(I'm such a narcissist)_  but for all that Bucky hasn't stuck strictly to the script. His character's got dark brown hair but it's longer than Bucky's unkempt, shoulder-length-bird's nest, reaching the elf's lower back. Same dark blue eyes; but almond shaped since those were the only choices for elves. Pointy ears. Skin color that's a shade lighter than Bucky's own. Two perfectly functioning arms.

And a svelte silhouette that represents the complete opposite of Bucky's. That's one of the reasons Bucky picked that race over human or dwarf. He likes delicate things, and if he was to be staring at that fella for an unknown amount of hours, he'd thought it best if said character was at least pleasing to his eye.

So elf Bucky is _kind of_  Bucky... and kind of, _not_.

As for the Commander of the Grey, his face is the embodiment of the Greek god-like beauty. He's tall and bulky and for the purpose of the cutscene - doesn't wear his winged Warden helmet, exposing the short tousled blond hair. His eyes are light blue, almost grey, and he wears a perpetual smirk on one corner of his rosy mouth.

Even if perfectly conscious that this is only virtual and there are no chances the player looks as stunning as his alter ego, Bucky's nevertheless _just_ a man and his heartbeat quickens a little bit. His breathing grows shallow. And maybe he gets goosebumps when the warrior's big hand closes around his elf's delicate fingers.

"Fifteen affinity points. Not bad, buddy," Bucky cooes at his own character, voice slightly hoarse and unexpectedly _not_ minding a little socializing. 

But this other player's been nothing but very nice, not impatient or making fun of Bucky for needing assistance probably more than your average DA gamer.

When Bucky draws back, his prosthesis twitches - a malfunction or simply a translation of Bucky's jitters - and his ring finger accidentally hits key number 7.

And it's like the world is suddenly moving in slow motion, his eyes turning round with horror as he takes in what he just set in motion.

On the screen, another animation kicks in. Elf Bucky brings one long-fingered hand to his mouth, hooded eyes flirtatious and smile wicked. He kisses the inside of his palm and then puckers his lips, blowing the kiss in Steve's direction. 

"Nooooo," Bucky moans, heat flooding his cheeks from embarrassment.

But it's like a trainwreck and he can't tears his eyes away.

The worst part is that both characters are stuck during cutscenes, so they _have_  to go through the motions - willing or not. Especially if the two have already started to sympathize, affinity bar pointing towards 'friendship' or 'rivalry' instead of being simply neutral. Which is why the Grey Warden remains in place, smirking and looking good enough to _eat_  - and when a big red heart materializes out of thin air and floats bouncily from Bucky's elf towards the warrior's chest, Steve grabs it and it disappears at the contact, popping like a soap bubble.

Elf Bucky winks  _(oh God, no)_.

Steve's smile widens and he blushes, averting his gaze almost shyly.

The text appearing above both their heads right after the animation is over is an obscene '+100 affinity'.

And Bucky wishes he could go back in time and never be born at all.

"A  _hundred_ _!"_  He hiccups and nearly chokes on his own saliva, hands curling into fists.

Now all he can hope for is for Steve to either brush it off like it never happened, or block him forever. Bucky actually really,  _really_ wishes he's about to get blocked.

To spare him any further humiliations.

_This is why you don't speak to anyone on this goddamn game! You idiot!_

The  _ping!_ doesn't startle him this time, but sends his heart racing just the same from nerves, head throbbing painfully where he's still got a bump from this morning.

Directing his gaze to the chat, Bucky holds his breath...

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: wow ok**

... and wonders why the ground hasn't opened yet to swallow him. Or why the  _fuck_ he ever agreed to get this metal disaster implanted.

**[COMMANDER_Steve]: :D**

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> You're getting part 2 on your bday @Ree! (.....................hopefully)


End file.
